ITV have issued a statement hitting back at claims a moment from Britain's Got Talent was "fake."
The talent show finally returned this weekend after being off air last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, and David Walliams retook their places on the judging panel as they watched hopefuls compete for £250,000 and a spot in the Royal Variety Performance.
But the show was hit with criticism, with viewers saying they thought it was 'fake' after a certain act. In a twist of events, an auditionee didn't even know he was set to perform in front of the judges before his mum and two daughters appeared on the stage as he sat in the audience.
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Nick Edwards, 36, had a shock as his daughters Savannah and Cali, three and four, were brought on stage by his mother Tracey. They went on to convince him to sing in front of the audience.
The dad-of-two agreed as he headed onto the stage where he said that he had "lost a lot of confidence” in himself over the years and tended to only sing in the shower. The judges gave the surprised contestant time to prepare backstage before he returned to the stage at the London Palladium once more.
He played the guitar as he sang Daddy’s Little Girl by Ernie Halter. Nick dedicated his emotional performance to his daughters, as the song had become part of the “soundtrack of their life”. Judge Amanda Holden and host Declan Donnelly were brought to tears as the song tugged on their heartstrings.
The singer gained four yeses from the judges, with David Walliams adding that he had "4004 yeses" from the audience. But while the viewers who watched live seemed to love the act, eagle eyed viewers at home spotted something amiss.
They saw that Nick was already wearing a mic while sitting in the audience. This caused people watching to question the 'surprise' as they took their complaints to Twitter.
Emalie said: "Hmm it’s a total surprise but he was already mic’d up? #BritainsGotTalent." David added: "Nick had no idea why he was in the #BGT audience Also Nick; wearing a microphone."
Joe said: "I don’t believe that was a surprise at all, he’s mic’d up. #BGT." Meanwhile, Alb said: "Oh FFS #BGT how was it a surprise to him? He already had a mic on him! These fake setups #britainsgottalent."
Britain's Got Talent show producers have denied the claims as they explained why Nick was already wearing a mic. A spokesperson told the Daily Mail: "We loved welcoming back our BGT viewers back last night after a year away. To report or allude to anything being staged or contrived regarding Nick's audition would be false and incorrect.
"Quite simply, when Nick entered the Palladium auditorium during BGT auditions, he was approached to be part of our ‘Gogglebox’ audience and told he would be mic'd up so we could capture his reactions throughout the day as he sat in the audience. He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing."
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